Urgrim, 24th Kaldezeit

The wind across the hilltops was freshening as Urgrim went in search of last night's tracks, making him glad for his cloak. Around noon, he thought he had found the place where they had followed Mala through the fog. Now he could see the broad crest of the hill spread out in front of him in the patchy sunlight - a landscape of bare earth and wind-scoured rocks, the runnels carved by the rain still lingering like fresh scars.

Searching over the barren ground with a keen eye, Urgrim hardly noticed the hours slipping by. Much of the earth was too stony to take a print, but here and there, where the water and loose grit had accumulated into grey mud, he found the prints of heavy hooves. It looked like Mala had taken another sharp turn soon after gaining the heights, cutting north-west across the hills. That would put her on a course for the western edge of the Thornwood, if she held to it - but that 'if' seemed far from certain. These frequent changes of heading seemed to Urgrim like the choices of a woman consciously evading pursuit. Mala clearly knew a thing or two about being hunted.

Quote Originally Posted by Thragka View Post
In the evening, he spoke to Hechsler. "Strength to your arm, Jurgen." After the measure of polite and sombre small talk appropriate for the circumstances, Urgrim asked the Sigmarite if he could ask him something. "How d'you find it, serving your god far from his own lands, among the unfaithful? It seems ... unrewarding, to be a priest of the Hammer so far from your Empire. Yet, your faith now's helped strike down a great enemy of all civilised folks. Is it ... do you still feel he listens to you?"
Hechsler seemed a little surprised to hear such a question from Urgrim. "There was a time when I questioned that," he said. "But I'd say all this shows he has his reasons." His voice assumed a scriptural tone. "As He smote Nagash on the banks of the Reik, so He sends his servants to root out the evil of the Great Necromancer wherever it takes root... or something like that."

He looked over to the small scattering of campfires that remained, the Thorns and Sforza's labourers huddled close around them. "Way I see it, Sigmar named his kingdom the Empire of Man. Not of the Unberogens, or the Reikland. He was the Heldenhammer, the goblin-smiter. He wanted to drive out the monsters, and make the world a place where men and women could raise their children not to fear the dark." Taking a swig from his flask, he wiped his mouth and picked up a stick to stoke the fire. "That's something that everyone deserves, no matter what tongue they speak, or who they pay their taxes to."


25th Kaldezeit

It took three trips to get all the bodies back up the hill, even stacking them high on the back of Abdul's carts. The soldiers and labourers worked with handkerchiefs or strips of cloths over their mouths and noses, the carrion birds squawking and shrieking their complaints as their feast was carted away. Their noise was the only sound that broke the morbid quiet hanging over the company.

The bodies were laid head to toe and shoulder to shoulder in the pit that had been dug at the top of the hill - and when the space began to fill up, on top of one another. There were Caerforters, Morrite men-at-arms - Ludo suspected even some Rivermouthers among the dead they interred. Most were in such a state of decomposition that unless they wore a uniform, it was difficult to tell.

Only the remains of the Thorns and the Knights of the Raven were kept separate. The living Thorns seemed to treat the bodies of the fallen templars with a mixture of respect and fear. Sieghard could understand where they were coming from - even now, he had to fight the feeling that if he came too close, an armoured hand might jerk up to seize him by the throat.

Once the last bodies had been laid down, Hechsler opened his dog-eared old prayer book, and spoke a brief service to consecrate their souls to Morr. "So we return their flesh to Rhya's earth, oh Lord of the Gateway, in the sure and certain knowledge that their spirits shall dwell in peace in Your Garden," he concluded, "and in time, we shall meet them once again."

A scudding cloud cast its shadow across them, and a few half-hearted raindrops fell against the stony ground. Hechsler stepped back, and the Thorns and workers began to close the heap of stones over the cairn.

OOC:
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Let me know when you're ready to move on - and whether you want to cut straight to arriving in Manann's Keep, or break for the second burial in the Thornwood.